A typical heavy truck has a battery box that is supported on the side of a chassis frame rail by some form of bracket mounting structure. The battery box houses a bank of one or more D.C. storage batteries and has a removable cover that, when removed, provides access to the batteries. Some type of opening is provided in a wall of the battery box through which the electric battery cables that are connected to the battery are routed out of the box so that they can feed the electrical system of the vehicle.
Because battery cables are heavy gauge insulated wires (4/0 is a common gauge), they are more difficult to route and secure in place than lighter gauge wires. In certain vehicles whose electrical equipment can draw large amounts of current from the storage batteries in the battery bank, the feeds comprise one or more insulated cable pairs running in parallel from the positive electrical terminal of the battery bank and two or more insulated cable pairs running in parallel from the negative electrical terminal of the battery bank. Such parallel cables pairs make the task of routing the feeds even more challenging.
Orderly routing and secure retention of the battery cables are particularly important because the cables are typically unprotected by any circuit protection device. If a poorly secured or poorly routed “hot” cable repeatedly rubs against a metal part or is exposed to being chafed or cut, the insulation may wear or open to an extent that causes the conductor to become exposed and short to ground, instantaneously releasing an enormous amount of electrical energy, usually with undesirable consequences.
For various reasons, such as economy of scale, reduced in-plant inventory of different parts, and the like, the prevailing manufacture of automotive vehicles calls for the use common parts wherever possible. Different vehicles that have different requirements for the number of batteries in a battery bank and/or the size and number of battery cables may therefore use a common battery box even if fewer batteries are present inside the box and different numbers and/or sizes of battery cables are required.
It is known to use cable organizers in association with battery boxes to organize the routing of battery cables out of the boxes. A cable organizer may have a shape and particular constructional features for locating particular battery cables. While such organizers may be suitable for a specific number of specifically sized cables, they may be not as well suited for other cable sizes and/or additional cables. An attempt to use such an organizer for battery cables other than the particular cable size and number for which it was designed may lead to less than the best routing and retention of the cables. For example, cables may have to be bunched and/or crossed and/or forced into place. Excess cable length may place segments of the length in locations where they are exposed to abrasion and/or being cut.
Because the storage batteries and/or battery cables are apt to need service and/or replacement during the life of a motor vehicle, it is desirable that a cable organizer have a construction that doesn't complicate such tasks and that can provide assurance that cables can be quickly removed from the organizer and quickly and securely re-installed.